Talk:Benchmark

FPX Indexes copied from "User:LadyGeek/Portfolio design and construction", where this material will be deleted. --Quebec 16:54, 16 January 2015 (MST)

Reader feedback: looking for the daily closin...

24.138.85.217 posted this comment on 15 November 2017 (view all feedback).

looking for the daily closing value of thebalanced f p x

The link to Daily values no longer works.

No content is shown unless your browser's ad-blocker is disabled. This may be one problem, but the links are still redirected to Canadian Stock Market - Financial Post. You can find old quotes in Google cache (9 Nov 17). Perhaps the quotes were recently removed from public view, as any link via google, e.g. weekly quotes, redirects to the Markets page. LadyGeek 19:41, 16 November 2017 (CST)

The purpose of the page is to describe what the benchmarks, such as the FPX Indices, are and how they work. Daily market data is well beyond the scope and purpose of this knowledge base and therefore at best we should provide "best-efforts" to where that information may be obtained. The fact The Financial Post, and many other market data providers, regularly change the URLs for this information makes this "best-efforts" work a bit of a maintenance headache. If we cannot determine reliable and stable links, then they are best removed and the article text should make mention that we cannot find reliable and stable market data links. --Peculiar Investor 12:30, 30 November 2017 (CST)

The FPX Indexes

The citation for the fund composition table, Financial Post Indexes, is broken. I found a possible replacement at Croft Why We Took The Approach We Did, but it does not match the table. Either the table is out of date, or the proposed article is not the correct citation. I don't know which is correct and will defer to the experts. --LadyGeek 19:46, 16 November 2017 (CST)

The proposed replacement link is correct (this is the authoritative source) and I've changed the article to reflect this. --Quebec 08:20, 22 November 2017 (CST)

Upon further examination there is indeed a difference in the cash component of the 'growth' index between finiki (10%) and the linked article (5%). OTOH Bylo's site says that it's 10% cash. Hummmmmm.--Quebec 08:28, 22 November 2017 (CST)

Bylo's 1998 reference contains bonds maturing in 2001 and 2007, which is (today) more than 10 years past maturity. The portfolio must have been replenished with the (newer) authoritative source. I recommend replacing the table with this later portfolio. The portfolio's composition is in the text description after the table. --LadyGeek 20:04, 22 November 2017 (CST)

I propose the following replacement table, but I must defer the equity allocations to a Canadian expert. Can someone please advise / assist?

Three FPX Portfolios

Asset class	Security	Income (30/70)	Balanced (50/50)	Growth (70/30)
Cash	91 day T-Bill	20%	10%	5%
Canadian bonds		50%	40%	25%
Canadian equities	XIU	25%	???	???
US equities	SPY	5%	???	???
MSCI EAFE equities	iShares	---	???	???
Total		100%	100%	100%
Note: The asset allocation ratios are equity/debt, which is reversed from the article.

--LadyGeek 18:42, 23 November 2017 (CST)

Frankly, I've never liked these indices as benchmarks. Benchmarks for who? It would only make sense to compare my returns to a specific FPX index if my portfolio had exactly the same asset allocation. Otherwise, the difference in returns between the portfolio and the benchmark will partly (perhaps largely) be due to the different asset allocation. This defeats the purpose of the comparison. I find it much more informative to build a personalized benchmark based on my specific AA. Then I can see if, say, active management is working for me. So the FPX indices are not that useful as benchmarks, but are they suitable as model asset allocations? I don't like them much for that purpose either, too much of a home bias, especially for the income index, and why keep 10% cash in a growth portfolio, etc. --Quebec 10:40, 25 November 2017 (CST)

My first concern is that the table is out-of-date and incorrect. Upon further review, the FPX index portfolio has already been implemented as a Simple Index Four fund portfolio. I propose to replace the section with a brief introduction and then a "See also" to the linked finiki page. --LadyGeek 18:59, 25 November 2017 (CST)

To address the question of "Frankly, I've never liked these indices as benchmarks. Benchmarks for who?" posed by Quebec, as best I can recall the FPX Indices were the first attempt to provide an investable benchmark for Canadian investors. Remember this was in the heyday of mutual funds, with their large MERs and sales charges, i.e. the dark days for Canadian investors. Whether these specific benchmarks are still relevant is another question now the indexing for Canadian investors has become more mainstream. I would keep them as part of the article, if for no other reason that history context. Referencing away from the Financial Post, and Bylo's pages which haven't been maintained for many years, and to the authoritative source is the best approach IMHO. --Peculiar Investor 12:37, 30 November 2017 (CST)